Escom Acquires Commodore: The Future of Amiga

WORLD NEWS

Let's start with this issue's super news — COMMODORE has finally been bought! The new owner is the company ESCOM.

A bit about this company's history. Many years ago Manfred Schmitt owned a musical instrument store. He noticed the ever-increasing demand for electronics and began selling computers. Those were COMMODORE 64. Selling these computers, he opened ten more stores within a single year. Ten years later, ESCOM already had around 400 stores, only by then they no longer sold the C64, but rather PCs. Now ESCOM also owns COMMODORE. ESCOM has divided COMMODORE and AMIGA into two separate divisions. AMIGA TECHNOLOGIES GMBH will deal with the production of AMIGA and the development of new models. A bit about this division's plans for the near future. Unfortunately, the A600 will no longer be produced. Nor the CD32 for now, because the factory where they were manufactured is located in the Philippines and does not belong to COMMODORE. The parts in the warehouses are also in complete disarray, so the CD32 will only begin production sometime next year. There is better news regarding the A1200. Its production will start already this year. Next year a new model will be released, A1300. It will feature a 68030 processor and a built-in CD-ROM. The A4000 hasn't been neglected either. The old models with 68040 processors and new ones with 68060 processors will be produced.

And now about the COMMODORE division. As you may recall, COMMODORE once produced PCs and was one of the largest PC sellers in the world. Now for several years PCs haven't been produced. ESCOM plans to resume this and produce PCs again through the COMMODORE division. And also — COMMODORE is responsible for the production of the COMMODORE 64. However, they are now only produced in China for the Chinese audience. Still, ESCOM believes there is a market of millions in China.

Speaking about the future of AMIGA, ESCOM says that RISC technology will be developed and AMIGA will get a POWERPC or one of HP's new RISC processors.

PREMIER VISION has released a new powerful computer for cheap. That is the WARTHOG 257 with the world's fastest processor, the DEC ALPHA AXP (275MHZ). This processor features 128-bit technology.

A few more technical specifications:

• 2MB cache;
• 32MB RAM;
• 64-bit graphics card with 4MB;
• ETHERNET adapter;
• built-in quad-speed CD-ROM;
• 1GB hard drive and other goodies.

And all this for only £7499.